Nemisis
by xXxSoulKeeperxXx
Summary: A man, all on his own finds -or is founded by- a young female Hunter. Hilarity and hardships ensue as the duo attempt to escape the apocolypse.
1. Founded

**Disclaimer:** Yep, I don't own L4D.

Ok, This is a little joint story between me and Yomar Sonak. We took a bit each and each paragraph is a swapped POV.

Key:

This is the infected character

This is human.

Have fun reading :)

I stalked in through the hallways amongst the shops, attempting to keep my voice at a low growl. I'd smelt my prey, and was going in for the kill. It was being silly really turning on a stereo, in this type of hell, especially when one knows other infected hate any noise. Especially sleeping hunters. I overheard the dull music on the stereo, so I strained my ears and heightened my senses to find any evidence that the human was actually still there. A drift gently carried a much better scent than him though, it smelt more meaty and my mouth salivated at the smell, and of course the mouth, nose and ears are connected so as I smelt it and tasted it. Focus! Focus! I cursed under my breath and in the end I was about to give up on them, then I remembered that if I didn't get him somebody else would. But with that smell...I'd never be able to hunt with it lingering.

"Heyyy-o…listen what I sayyy-o…" I'd taken a seat on a nearby lawn chair as I stared down at my two weapons. A pistol and a rifle…it seemed like a good idea at the time: a long range weapon to keep them all at bay, and an extra one just in case I needed some more time. If only I hadn't misjudged my own ability to survive…I would have brought a weapon that lasts longer…ironically becoming my real downfall. I had never planned on lasting this long in such a hostile environment, monsters (as I call them) all over the place, and no one left to turn to. I should have brought something like an axe…something that wouldn't 'run out of ammo.' I opened the last clips in the rifle, then the pistol…both were empty. I tossed them to the side…they had no use for me now. And now, as I'm sitting in this little outdoorsman shop…I've already realized what my fate will be. So, the way I figure it, I might as well go out in style…turn up the radio a tad, sit back, and relax. Oh, and maybe get a steak cooking on one of the working grills: I was starving. I may be nearing my end…but that doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy the time I have left.

Simple-minded humans, always unaware of the dangers around them. I overheard a 'clink!' as something was thrown to the murky floor, so I carefully peered around the corner to check what happened. Turns out our little human here is completely disarmed, both ammunition cartages are empty and he's totally unaware of my presence. I inwardly smiled to myself in triumph. Maybe this time I won't fail so hard and catch something without getting distracted, which is a big thing for me as I've never really done anything like that. It was embarrassing for most the time. I'm not exactly the most largest of my kind but I'm still pretty lethal, even if the survivors could just pick me up off them and tell me how cute I was. So embarrassing.

Ah…that steak has such a wonderful scent to it. I couldn't help but feel a sense of irony somehow…me, eating a steak, right before I get eaten by some predator. Yeah…that's probably where I'm getting it from. I sat back down and looked out towards the window, staring directly onto the streets outside. Strange…the road seemed so…bare. Not a single zombie, monster, undead, or whatever they were in sight; remarkable, really. Maybe it's a sign? A sign that maybe…maybe I still have a chance to live through all this? Or perhaps…a terrible joke to make me believe I stand a chance, then thrust those hopes away in the blink of an eye…urgh, enough of that. The last thing I need is to make myself feel even more down than I already am…the situation is doing that well enough as it is. "Ack!" Oh…oh, the steak just hissed. Didn't think it would sound so loud...scared me half to death. Good lord…at this rate, I'll die from a heart attack before those things even get to me. Time to find a new song to listen to…hopefully someone on the radio's singing a happier tune than I am.

Just, a little bit...further! I can reach this, almost...There. GOTCHA! I put the meat in my mouth and was about to crawl away when something fell off it. 'Sssss!' eep! That'll teach me for being on the ceiling and defying so-called gravity. I only came up here to get it, maybe this could be the only meal I have for the week. I wouldn't know, I mean he could have- Waaait a second, he doesn't have a weapon so why the hell am I going for this when I could go for the bigger meal! Well a bit late now I'm already in the cupboard and are those footsteps I hear outside? I've also just noticed, how come there's people singing on the radio when, there's no broadcasting? That's a bit strange. Oh God the doors opening!

Sheesh, that steak just sizzled again. That thing has more grease in it than I ever…..huh? Wait…what the? The steak…it's, it's gone! Bu-but how? I haven't even moved! Uh…oh no. Something must have found a way in and taken it…and that means…I'm next! Ohhh god, what do I do? What do I do-okay, okay…calm. Down. Just take a deep breath, and think things through. Now…if I stay here, and hide somewhere...no, no, that won't work. There's no way it won't be able to find me with its heightened senses…as soon as it finishes that steak, it'll just end up finding and eating me next! That steak was the appetizer; I'm the main course! There's nowhere left to run…and I don't even have a weapon anymore! Urrrgh…looks like my luck's finally ran out…I'm a goner. Wait…hey, wait a minute! If that…'thing,' has gone somewhere to eat the steak…then maybe…yes! Yes, I still have a shot! If I hurry and find it while it's eating, then I _might_ get a chance to catch it off guard, surprise it, and knock it senseless before it can do the same to me! Let's see…ah, here's my rifle. I'd prefer an axe or something…but it's still better than nothing. Hmmm…a few drops of grease have fallen onto the ground, leaving a small trail to follow, and it's leading up to…this door. Hm…I can hear a small amount of moaning inside. Better hurry and open it…1…2…3! "Ahhh! Eh...huh?" It…screamed? And now it's…cowering? Wait…is that a human? It's got its hood over its head, I can't really tell…careful, careful, just lean over, but keep the gun ready…"Uh…hello? Are you okay…? Gah, ahhhhh!" Ack, it pounced me! "Augh, let me go! Let…me…huh?" It stopped…it stopped attacking? Wait, what am I doing? Throw it off! "Uh-hurrrgh! Ah ha! Right into the wall! I got you now! Uh…huh?" The hood came off…wait, it's…it's just a young girl. And she's making a light, whining sound...almost like a whimper. Strange…none of the other monsters that attacked me just stopped like that: they would keep fighting until they passed out or I finished them off. Even with their last bit of strength, they would come after me, but this one…this one's different. She's just…lying there. Weird…

Oww that hurrtt...Why the hell would somebody throw you at a bloody wall- Oww...He smelt of something familiar but I can't put my finger on it. He's walking over to me and looking slightly confused, I drooped my head so my muddy blonde hair(or at least I think it's still blonde) fell over my eyes and face to stop him from noticing my expression. The closer he got the more familiar he smelt plus his movement was similar to that other guy- I slapped my forehead. Of course! That's why he was so recognisable! He's the guy who helped me ages ago where he shot my cousin, I mean he WAS trying to kill me whilst I was transforming, he told me there was nothing such as a Feminine kind of his only male, because they were the dominant species and only men could be that not women. Sexist son-of-a-bitch. Makes me want to scream at his dead body and say 'yeah well what about the freaking WITCH?' that might've shut him up, he always was an asshole to me. He's advancing and I really have to stop going off track all the time, maybe if I show him that I'm friendly? I mean yeah sure I stole his mea- that's it! I grabbed the other piece and handed it out to him and made the most innocent smile I could gather. Hopefully he'll see I'm being nice!

What…what is she doing? She's…reaching her hand out…? Does she want me to help her up or something? No wait, she has something in her hand…looks like some of the meat she took from me. And now she's grinning…? Hmmm, this is very strange...either she's giving up and trying to make a peace offering…or, the more likely of possibilities, she's trying to trick me. One thing that I've learned in life, especially after the infection began: there are very few people in this world that you can trust. So putting faith into this undead…'monster,' doesn't seem all that intelligent. Lean over to her, she doesn't seem to be getting ready to attack, and slowly close her hand, push it back towards her...okay, good. "No…that's okay, you keep it." She seems a bit…confused. Uh-huh…there she goes, putting her hand out in front of me again. "No, really; take it, I don't want it." Urgh…she's doing it again. "Look, just take it, alright? I don't want it anymore, you can have it." Uh-oh…she's starting to growl. Did I sound too hostile, there? And now she's getting up, too..."Um…ahhhhh!" Gotta move fast! Turn the corner, now sprint…just don't turn around! Don't turn around, don't turn around…okay, I'm going to-"Augh!" For the love of God, why did I turn around? As soon as I did, there she was, flying in mid-air, straight at me. Ugh…I'm done for this time. I can't even defend myself, anymore. She's raising her hand into the air…oh God, this is gonna hurt. "Ahhhh-mmph!"…Huh? Am I dead? I don't feel dead…all I feel is a strange sensation in my mouth…Okay, enough cowardice, open your eyes! There she is…with her hand in front of my mouth, and a wide, rather disturbing smile across her face. Did she…*homph, homph*…yes, she did. She just shoved that leftover piece of steak into my mouth, whether I wanted to or not. I think I better eat it…for my own sake. Hm…tastes like…death.

There, you will eat it whether you like it or not mister! It's my peace offering and therefore you shall eat it, and if you even _dare_ regurgitate it back up again I'll make you eat that too. I stood up off him and held a hand down, it took him a while but he hesitantly grabbed my hand and I hauled him up despite my small figure. He was surprised and I couldn't help making a big grin at him, which scared the human slightly but he's going to get used to it because I have plans. I couldn't be seen with a _human_ though considering my bad luck as a female hunter already and a _small_ female hunter at that. I can't write properly so I can't tell him through writing,I can't speak so I can't tell him through speaking either...However I have actions, so maybe I'll be able to do some form of acting to make him see that I want to travel with him, and carefully. I also want to protect him though, but I'm so small I'd be no use against a Tank- Actually on second thought, I'm so small the Tank wouldn't be able to get me off him! So I was fortunate to be small in most cases, but in others such as territorial and others of my kind plus any other being (apart from commons) I wouldn't be able to face that well, and I wouldn't want to get in the way of his shooting either. Eh? Oh he's giving me a quizzical look, I guess he can tell that I'm thinking pretty hard about something. I pulled up my hood again and sat on all fours like a Dog, hopefully my way of contacting him through actions would work...

Well, alright…she at least appears to be friendly. She's crouching down in front of me, staring…almost like she's waiting on me to give her an order, or something. Why is she acting this way? I've done nothing to make her lose all hostility towards me…have I? Is there something that I'm missing about these undead creatures? Something that I've done without even knowing? I can't come up with a single reason for her to spare my life…and yet…here I am, alive and well. What a strange, strange occurrence this is. "…What have I done to make you so…friendly towards me?" A confused look…yeah, I know the feeling. Not sure why I even asked. Okay, snap out of it, time to jump back to reality: I need a weapon, and fast. "Might as well pick up that rifle…ah, here it is." Urgh…still out of ammo, though. What am I gonna do now…huh? She's tugging on my shirt…what does she want? "What? Look, I'm sorry, but I can't understand what you're doing." …She just keeps staring. "No comprendè? Je ne comprend pas…? No habla 'the undead'?...I have no idea what you're trying to say!" Ugh, I give up. Huh…? She just bolted towards that side door. And there she goes, running right on through. Does she want me to…follow her? Hm…peeking your head around the door, eh? If I had to guess, then I'd say she wants me to follow her. Well…do I have any other options?...No? Well then, guess I have no choice.

Well, I was kind of hoping he'd follow me or something but he's just stood there like a frozen pole. So I attempted to remember an action of some sort that would make him follow, it was kind of hard when you've been non-human for so long. Well technically I am still human but- Whatever! Right, I need to find some form of action that would make him follow me...My hands come to mind. Maybe if I wafted them towards me, maybe he'd see that as an action. Then again he's so dense he probably wouldn't know any different, I'll try it anyway. Well...Whad'ya know, he's actually coming towards me at least now I know he's not as dense as I thought! So he follows me and- What's that growling coming from my closet? The human seems to notice it as well. He approached it wearily. The human carefully placed his hand on the handle of the door, before gently turning it...A black blurr shot out of the cupboard and landing on my human, I tackled it to the ground and attempted to keep hold. I growled at the human, and almost as if he understood me, he quickly got up ran into the room regardless of danger. I wrestled with the other Hunter, as it smiled menacingly at me before bringing down it's claws and-

Aim…fire! Yeaaah, take that you monstrous monstrosity! "Heh…only 3 shots, eh?" Better approach it to make sure it's really dead, "Thought you would have put up more of a fight than that." Hm…yep, it's down for the count, and not a single bullet wasted, either. Good thing whoever used to own this store had a gun closet. Okay, time to check up on little black jumping hood. "Hey, you alright?" Hm…she's growling. Looks like that other…'thing' messed up her leg a bit. I've seen these zombies take several gunshots and still move at full speed, though, so a little leg wound probably won't do all that much. Well, now that I have some more ammo, I guess I should be heading back outside into the zombie-infested streets. "Well, thanks for everything, zombie girl. I wish I could help, but…I'm not exactly a doctor, let alone one for the undead. I wish you understood my words, but…I'm guessing that you can't, so…bye." She's still focusing on holding her leg; I don't think she got a single bit of what I was conveying. Guess I better head out, then. Grab an extra pistol from the closet…alright. I'm ready to…aw no, she's whimpering again. Urrrgh, it's so painful! And she's looking at me with those sad eyes again. Better go back and try to comfort her…somehow. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? But there's nothing I can do, and I really have to…" Ack, she's not going to stop, is she? God, it's so…so…guilt-inducing! "Okay, okay! I'll go get some bandages or something, just please…_please_ stop making that noise!" Well, she _did_ spare my life, I suppose. And she just saved me from a certain death…so I suppose I owe her enough to at least help her back on her feet. Sigh…let's see if there are any spare bandages lying around.

Oww, my leg. That stupid inconsiderate bast- No, I need to get this sealed up somehow before I bleed to death. The Humans walking away and scouting around, maybe in an attempt to find something? Don't know what he wants to find but it must be pretty important if he's looking that hard for it. His face seemed to lighten up as he looked into a room and so he ran into it, and came back out with a red and white thing then started to walk over to me. He somehow opened it and took out a long white thing from it, it reminded me of a thinned version of a smokers tongue. Maybe he was going to wrap me up in it! Then seal me down so that I couldn't go anywhere and I'd die! Eep!

"It's OK...I-" Huh? He's what? It's OK? I stopped attempting to struggle from him and let him wrap the long white thing around my leg, he then put it in place so it wouldn't come loose...

"See." I gave a short growl of thanks, but I think he didn't really understand it properly. Well, I might as well try and- Oof! Owww, OK don't try and get up, not a good idea. He could see my agony and supposedly started pondering on how to bring me with him, if...He wanted me along I mean, he could always just leave me here like the rest of the humans did...He turned to think. AHA, IDEA! I used whatever insanity was left in me to stand up (and painfully I'll admit) and jumped onto his back.

"Oh no. You can't even move with that injured leg, can you?" I really need to get going to make up for all the lost time I spent in here, but…I can't just leave her here to die! "Ugh, what am I gonna do with you? Ack! What the?" She just…she just jumped onto my back! Wait, did she…understand me? I mean, she's shown no sign of understanding me before, so…either we just had the exact same thoughts, or…hey, wait a sec! She's still capable of thought? I never would have guessed that the undead could still use their minds effectively. I thought they were all brain dead…guess not. Well…she wrapped her legs around my stomach, and is hanging onto my shoulders with her arms…is she seriously suggesting…oh my god, she is. I'm standing up, and she's still hanging on. She wants to come along, and riding piggyback, no less! "Do you…really want to come with me?"…She pressed her face against my back. Wow…I guess she really does. Well…why not, right? I mean, it couldn't hurt to have one of these guys with me. This could really work to my advantage: who knows, she might even be able to communicate with some of them so I…oh, wait. That thing that attacked us before…it knew she was here, yet it still attacked. Crap…well, at least she's fairly light and easy to carry, so having her along for the ride shouldn't slow me down all that much. Guess we better get going then. "Alrighty then, uh…um…sheesh, what am I gonna call you?" Guess I'll figure it out later. "Well, whatever you're called…let's be heading out. Gonna grab my gear…okay. Let's get going, then; we got a long road ahead of us before we get to my house."

Your house? Maybe I could help out with directions and ammo for now. I pulled him to the side, he does NOT want to go that way! Witch around the corner...He almost yelled at me but I managed to cover his mouth, and he overheard the very light sobbing echoing in the hall. He mouthed a small 'oh' to me. He's so lucky to have me here considering his obliviousness to just about everything can be fatal, I'll make an attempt at guiding him through the Town. He doesn't have a lot of ammo so we better get to somewhere safe, and fast. I'm sure on my little journeys around the place there was a small shelter on 'Mayway' Road...What? I can still read a little bit. I'm sure it was Mayway. I don't like that street though, it gives me the chills. Like I've been there before and can't remember anything, I've been avoiding that street since I felt that way. Eep! I pulled him away again, he's so careless! Hm, coughing? I growled gently to him, to warn him of the Smokers presence. He simply asked me what was wrong, I twitched my leg to turn him around and thankfully he was getting used to my actions and so he turned, to come (almost) face-to-face with the Smoker I was trying to warn him about. He shot but the Smoker somehow managed to escape with a final coughing word.

"Watching" Well, if that wasn't the creep of the day I don't know what is.

"Augh! Where are all you freaky things coming from?" I don't exactly have a ton of ammo, here! At least let me reload! "Would you just…leave…me…alone!" Okay, okay, gotta make a break for it…ack, what now? Her constant tugging and hitting is really starting to grade on me…uh…oh no. This intersection here…it's chocked full of these things! Uh oh…oh god, they spotted us! Gotta go, now! "Ahhhhh! Crap, they're all over the place! Hurgh, ow!" My right shoulder! That girl just pinched me! "Don't claw me! I'm on your side, remember? Huh?" Oh, she's pointing down the road…"Okay, fine, we'll go that way!" Not like we have much of a choice, here…"God, I wish you could shoot back at these things! Or at least communicate with them!" What's that down the street…? It looks like a…barred steel door, going right into that large building at the end of the road. Wait, is that one of those built-in saferooms I've been hearing so much about? Perfect! Now we just gotta…ohhh no, not one of these things! I've seen them run right on top of you, jump on your back and start hitting you as hard as they can! Oh god, here it comes! Wha…huh? Oh wow, that girl just clawed it right off. "Whew, nice job there!" Come on, come on, we can make it…we're gonna make it…yes! "Whoo hoo! Oh no, they're charging into here!" Close it, close it!...Whew. Ugh…oh my god, that was…that was nuts. "Okay…okay, I'm just gonna…lie down on my stomach for a second." Ahhh, safety…I haven't felt this good in a looong time.

I have never known somebody to be more awkward in my entire, freaking, life. At least we're in the saferoom though, and away from any danger. I'll let him have a rest and then in a couple of hours. We're going to set off again.

"Ungh...no, Nemi, not yet...please, just five more minutes...gah!" Oh…oh man, I just had this crazy dream: I was being chased by hordes of the undead, and had a little infected girl on my back that teamed up with me after she spared my life. Man, what a weird…"Ahhhhh! Oh…oh my god, you're real." No…no, it wasn't a dream after all. That undead girl is sitting right here in front of me…good lord, I think I've finally lost it. "Ack, okay I'm getting up! Sheesh…no need to shove." I guess she feels that we had better leave, soon. Not sure why though…a little more sleep would have been nice. Hm…there are a bunch of infected people reaching through the steel bars of these doors. Guess they really want a meal…too bad they're not going to get one. "Okay, let's see…a first aid kit, that's useful…a bunch more ammo, awesome…okay, I think we're ready. Whoooa there, at least let me get ready before you hop on!" Geez, she's in a hurry. Can she sense something I can't? Oh well, whatever…time to get a move on. Okay, get the door ready…gonna kick this door open. 1…2…3! A ha…down you go, monsters! "Boom, headshot, boom, headshot…you guys really aren't all that tough. Though I'm not exactly complaining..." Hm, I wonder if she actually understands anything I'm saying. Otherwise I'm just talking to myself…oh who cares, I'm doing it anyway.

No human, you're not talking to yourself. I can just about understand you! Eh, yeah just about but that's because I'm not too skilled with the language of people anymore...which sucked on all levels. You silly, silly human. Always ignoring your surroundings, I sighed and got out some clips of 'rifle ammo' I stored from the saferoom (oh I'm sneaky!) and passed it to him. What? I heard him curse under his breath, and found that he was attempting to take out his 'pistol'. Hehe, I've been learning new words from him. I lead him down the road to a small makeshift shelter so he could rest a little bit. I mean after all that running, shooting and dragging. Luckily enough there was a small pile of ammo, I also needed my bandages changing on my leg, they were looking a bit mangled. I jumped off his back and he almost instantly slumped down onto the floor with a content sigh, I giggled to myself. I searched the small shelter and found a bottle of clear liquid, some long round stuff, an ammo pile and two small red packs. I remembered that's was the same design as the one the human used on me. I took some of the clips of the 'ammo' as I heard some people say to call it, that's how I know what it's called, and stored some in my many pockets, then I took over the rest to the human to see if he knew what they were. I noticed my leg was slightly better. Stiff, but much better than what it was. He glanced at them then thanked me. I guess they were of use to him, I felt quite useful at this point. He attempted to get the can open but the little tab-like thing snapped off, he frowned and placed it on the floor. Hm...He wanted to open it? I took the can and used my claw to attempt to pierce the top bit, he gently grabbed my hand and made a circle with my claw. He wanted me to cut the circle on the top open? Guess so, and that's exactly what I did. He lit up instantly as I managed to dig my clawed finger through it and make the same circle he wanted. He lifted his hand up and by reflex I twitched away, only to find out that he put his hand under my hood and was rubbing my head. I started to purr...God that was embarrassing. He laughed. It wasn't the nervous kind I was used to him doing, it was a pure laugh on happiness and in turn that made me smile. Albeit slightly crooked and toothy, I still smiled. He ate half the contents of it then offered the rest to me. I shook my head and pushed it to him he needed the energy more than me, and besides I could just eat some random meat we found. 'Cow' meat was pretty nice after all. Hey, hanging around with humans ain't all that bad when you can learn words. Looks like we were staying here for a bit.

Ah…finally, a break! Found some spare soup to eat, got a bunch of supplies…this dark day seems to be starting out fairly well. Augh…I can't believe I just thought that to myself. I've always been considered a jinx of sorts when it comes to saying positive things like that…oh well, that only comes into play when other people are involved, and no, this infected girl doesn't count. "Whoop, that reminds me…we gotta change your bandages out." We have a few spare sets, so might as well. "Okay, now just hold still…" Huh…she's growling again; looks like she's still cringing a bit at the wound. It's definitely getting better, though…and at a better pace than a normal human probably would have. Hm…now that I'm actually getting a real chance to look at her, there's something about this girl that seems…familiar. Her innocent looking smile, her long, blonde hair…dare I say it, even a seemingly cute face…pretty much everything about her when she's calm and not acting like a normal infected person, it kind of reminds me of…my sister. "Oh, Nemi…I gotta stop thinking about you so often." Huh? The undead girl…she rose her head once I said 'Nemi'. "Heh, what is it? Don't tell me that's your nickname too?" She's grinning again. There's just something about that smile that makes me feel better on the inside…just like how my sis used to make me feel back home. "So…is that what you would like me to call you? Nemi?" A big grin in reply? I'll take that as a yes.

Hah, he actually called me something and now that I ponder it, it's quite a nice name for me...'Nemi'. I wonder if that's what he'll start calling me that, and of course I want you to call me Nemi! Makes me feel a little fuzzy inside...Not sure what that feeling is. Acceptance maybe? I don't know, I've never really felt this way. It's not what the humans call love, but rather a liking of this human. I think I'll stick around him, at least until he gets out of here. This human's actually interesting, plus he's not trying to shoot me and he's helping me out- owtch...Albeit hurting me slightly, but I guess that's what I get for defending him. I suppose he could use me, I could help him out of here with no problem. What have I got to lose! That and I'll probably get my courage back as well, not that I'm a scaredy cat but it's still nice to get some more courage than what I had. "Nemi?" I looked up, he was concerned. I could tell by the look in his green eyes, they were flickering slightly. His determination was strong, mainly to get out of here. I had the biggest urge to wrap my arms around him and squeeze slightly, I've forgotten what one of those was called... So I opened my arms to him, to see if he'd notice what I was on about. He smiled and another flicker of the emerald fire lit up in his eyes, he came a bit closer and wrapped his arms around me. It was warm and secure. I've felt this before... From one of my family...My brother used to do it all the time, and this human gives the same hugs. We could've been distant relatives, I know that he's not related to me though, his scent is different to those of my actual human family. A shame really, it would've been nice to have him in the family. Reluctantly, I pulled away from his warmth compared to my cold skin.

Awww…I can't believe she knows what a hug is. It's amazing, really, just how much humanity this girl has left in her. I'm starting to see her in a different light; she isn't an infected with human-like qualities, rather she's a young girl that's just been physically altered into an undead. I'm starting to see just how right I was about her back at the outdoorsman store…she's so much different than these other monsters that I can't even place her into the same category. Well…it's time to get back to the situation at hand. "Okay then, I'd say we-" What the…what is she growling at? Wait…I'm hearing it too. "Is there something coming? Whoooa…" She hopped on my back, so…I guess it's time to head out. Got my guns? Okay, let's go outside and see what's go-oh my god, it's another human! And he's down! Gotta shoot 'em off him! Shoot 'em off! "Ugh…okay, got 'em." Wow…fighting four infected alone, at the same time? Not a situation _I'd_ want to be in…uh oh, he's not moving! Come on, man, be alright! Be alright! "Hey! Hey dude, are you okay?"

"Ack…no, I'm…I'm not. Ungh…please, help…" "Hey, hey, don't worry, it's gonna be alright. I got some first aid back in the-", "No! No, help my…grrrn, my friend…he's somewhere…in this town." He's handing me something…a walkie-talkie? "Please…help…unnngh..." Oh my god, I hope he's just unconscious…oh no, he's not breathing…no pulse, neither. "Augh…god…son of a…urrrrgh! Just a few more seconds…a few more seconds, and we could have saved him! God…augh." Nemi's grabbing me tighter around the neck…I hope I didn't upset her with anything I just said.

I don't like where this is going...I gripped more onto him in hope he'd see that I was a bit uncomfortable with what he was doing, but like always he thought I was just being hurt. He'd never upset me with his words unless he told me to go away, that would hurt but other than that he could never hurt me. He's attempting to talk to somebody over the radio and as the other person replies from the other end, I couldn't help but growl a little at his voice. The human told me to keep it down in case the other person at the other end of the radio could hear me, and in that turn wouldn't want help. After all, some of the infected were growing smarter. He didn't exactly know that they were, I say 'they' because I don't think of myself as an infected, or an undead, or a zombie but rather somebody that's unfortunate enough to get a cold, and it's made me unable to do normal things. Yeah, it's like a false hope of some sorts but it keeps me sane. If you want to call me sane, I'm practically anything _but_ sane and yet I can still keep my cool around a human. I gently growled to my human...He looked at me in a bit of wonder, and then started saying something about hearing me? Oh, he wished he could hear me? Understand me? Yeah, he wanted to understand me...I wonder if I could try and say 'no' to him...It's been a while since I managed to actually speak anything but I could always try and do it, no harm in trying right? Well we'll just have to see. I growled a little more to myself trying to pronounce the word, all that came out though was growls. That didn't help. Guess I'd be needing a bit of teaching considering it's been a while since I've heard that word spoken to me in human language.

Eventually we came to a small field-like area that was packed with infected. Arg, whyyy me? I buried my head in my humans shoulder... To symbolize that I really didn't want to be here, hell I even made a little bit of a whimper to him. He simply told me we wouldn't be here long and that we were only staying for a bit. Hah...I've really been learning these past few weeks with humans around, I can just about understand full sentences. I clawed off yet another infected off him, and after about 5mins of doing this we managed to find somebody. Something about this guy wasn't right though...I clung on a bit tighter and growled gently again. Hopefully he'd know what I was saying.

Finally…we made it! Man, that took forever; I never would have guessed that this guy lodged himself near an old farmhouse, but here we are. Some say this might have been the stupid thing to do, but I would argue nonstop that this is undoubtedly the right thing to do. Especially after we couldn't save his friend…there's just no way that I could stand the guilt. I can only hope that this guy hasn't met the same fate…"Alright, Nemi, not a single infected is left standing in this field. Well…except you, of course. So…where is this shed that this guy told us about?" This man, apparently known as Zambaldi, spoke to me over the walkie-talkie earlier; sounds like he couldn't make it out of town in time. Huh? Nemi's nudging me on my right side. "What's up? Oh, there it is!" Man, I hope this Zambaldi character is alright: he sounded kind of paranoid over the walkie-talkie. Even Nemi's growls seemed to frighten him…hm, better knock on the shed door before I try and open it. "Uh…hello? Zambaldi?"  
"Huh! Who's there?" "It's me, the guy that spoke with you over the radio." "Oh…so ya made it, huh?" Hmph…he doesn't sound all that grateful for what we did. He's opening the door…man, this guy's a mess. His eyes are beating red and his clothes are practically torn to shreds. "Well, glad you're okay, but we better get goin'." "Hey…hey, what's that on your shoulder?" "What? Oh, you mean Nemi?" "That…that thing's a hunter!" "A…a what?" "An infected, ya moron! She's one a' them, ain't she?" "Well…technically, yes. But she's not like that! She wouldn't hurt anyone!" "Bullshit! I've seen what these things can do…they took out this entire family in their own home!" Oh no…he's pulling out his shotgun. "Listen…please, listen to me! Put your gun away, she's not like that!" "Liar! I'll…I'll bet that yer the ones who killed my bud, too!" "What? Why would you say-" "Just look at ya! She probably killed 'im just 'cause she was hungry, and now yer both after me, too!" "No, no! Why would we come all this way just to kill you?" He's pointing his gun point blank at Nemi…run, Nemi! "Run!" She just bolted...ack, he's shooting at her! "Stop it! Please, stop!" "I'm not lettin' you escape, ya damn infected!" God, he's frickin' insane! Oh no…her leg! She can't move as fast with her injury…she'll never make it! He's chasing after her…I gotta catch him before he catches her! No…no, she fell! "Please, don't!" "Heh heh…I gotcha now, ya monster…" _BAM_!

MUAHAHAHA ENDING OF CLIFFFHANGERS! Tell me whatcha think of the story. If it's any good, might think about pulling up more chapters.

Nemi the Hunter © to me.  
HumanChar © Yomar Sonak 


	2. Separated

A/N for some reason it keeps screwing up some of the underlined text but you'll be able to tell who wrote what because I write in all words and no speech, and my friend writes  
with a lot more speech in. o_O the order it goes is Nemi, human, Nemi, human, Nemi etc... First paragraph is Nemi. I've put underscores "_" to show you where it starts and ends.

* * *

_This time there was nothing I could actually do. I was cornered, well not literally cornered I had an injured leg and it was getting worse with more moving I was doing, there was a bit more blood on my bandage. I couldn't really move my leg, and the guy looming over me cocked his gun aimed it at me and _bang_! Ow...Ow...I feel faint, am I dead? No I can't be there's a sharp pain in my arm...Did he shoot me? I heard growling...Was that mine? Yes it was, it _is_ mine. **That guy won't know what hit him!** Wait... No. That's not my voice. Why is there this feeling, a rage. Oh yeah, that feeling. That feeling where I can't control, no I must control. _But wouldn't it feel __**much**__ more better if I just sank my teeth into him?_ NO! No I can't think like that! What the hell am I doing, I'm crouching down and I just can't seem to get rid of this rage. _What he did was unforgivable...He must die._ Argh No! No...I...don't wanna...K... _

Wha…what the? I feel so…so dizzy, so confused. My vision feels blurry…everything happened so fast! That man…Zambaldi…he was about to shoot Nemi…but I couldn't let him! I shot him first…nicked him in the arm…I thought it was the right thing to do! To let him live…especially after I promised his friend I'd help. But he shot Nemi anyway…no, what have I done? Ugh…focus, focus! What the…what's going on? What is she doing? "Nemi!" Oh my god, she's going after him now! I'm glad you're okay, Nemi, but it's not right to just try and kill him too!

"Please Nemi, stop! Don't kill him!" I can't…I can't get her off of him! She won't stop clawing him…

"Get off him! Get…off…ahhhhh!" What…did she just…pounce me?

"Nemi, please stop! Nemi?" Oh no…

"Nemi!"

Huh! What? Ah! Brother! I haven't hurt you have I? Have I? Oh thank whatever high and mighty power that I never. I wrapped my arms around him, and I felt a wet substance in my eyes. What was that? Aw well I forgot and did I just call him my 'brother' earlier? Well I guess he is like a brother to me considering he protects me, and I guess he loves me like I was his sister so...Yeah, it's fitting he'll be my brother. Although not one of my kind he can still be my 'brother'. I purred to him as he put his arms back around me again, he muttered something about being thankful I hadn't died or himself for that matter and so I pulled away and helped him up. After what had happened I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone completely out of his mind, so I dragged him weakly over to shelter and as we entered he found a small stool then proceeded to sit upon the wooden object. I wanted to comfort him but I couldn't speak. So I gathered what voice I had left in me and attempted to growl a word, a word what might comfort him and take his mind off everything around him...

Whew…oh, wow…I think I need to catch my breath. We should be safe in this shed Zambaldi was hiding in. Everything that just happened…it seems like it all went by in an instant. Oh man…and Nemi's hurt again, too. Either she's really good at hiding her pain, though, or she isn't all that injured. Can't say the same for me, though…physically, I'm fine (as far as I know), but…ugh. When Nemi attacked me…ohhh god, I can't get that image out of my head. Her face, staring down at me as she forced me to the ground…I don't even think I could call that 'her.' She looked like all the others…like all those other infected monsters. Is that what she really is? Ohhh, I shudder just thinking about it. She's leaning her head on my shoulder…augh, what's happening to me? I feel like I can barely sit next to her. Every time I look to her now…I feel…fear. Ugh…I'm sorry, Nemi. I wish I didn't feel this way.

"Grrr, er." Wha…what?

"Grr, gruh…bruhhh therrr."

"What?" Is she…trying to speak? "What? What was that?"

"Bruh. Ther." Brother? Are you…calling me your brother?" She just grabbed my arm…and she's clinging to it with a smile. Oh my god…she just called me her brother! I can't believe it! Does she really see me as a brother to her? Wow…all of a sudden…I'm not all that afraid, anymore. I will admit it: I'm still a tad frightened of her, and yet…now I feel like I can withstand it..

"Heh…well then, 'sis'…let's get you patched up again." I got her newly-injured right arm bandaged, as well as put new ones on her leg. Now that I've wrapped the rifle across my back and placed the pistol just inside my pocket, we should be all set. Uh oh, she's starting to get up.

"Ohhhhh no you don't, Nemi. I think you've suffered enough pain for one day, don't you?" I went behind her and picked her up: her legs over my left arm and her torso over my right. "You're gonna have a much softer ride, this time." Uh…shoot, the door's closed. Should have thought this thing through.

"Oh, thank you, Nemi. Let's get going." The field is clear, and we passed a nearby safe room on the way here; we should make it there without any trouble.

_As if he's carrying me like this, I've had to pull down my hood to hide the very deep red my face has turned. Yes, despite popular belief I am not a zombie. I am only infected with a virus that makes us act like zombies, except I don't act like a zombie I more or less act like a rabid dog with an itch they can't reach. Eh, well not _me_ in particular more of my kind does. That still doesn't hide the fact I've had to hide my entire face in my hood, seriously why do you think I settled for riding on his back and not him carrying me like that, well that and the fact it was easier for him to shoot things and it was easier for him to move around and now well, lets just stick to; if we somehow find one of those over-sized muscle heads, we're screwed. At least- Wait...What's that crying? Oh for fu- Argh, nevermind I'll have to warn him somehow, but I think he heard it. Haha, the look on his face is priceless, I wonder how I never smelt her. I mean usually whenever there's a witch or something around I can smell her from a good distance, she must be a recently turned one. That and the fact he never had a shotgun to kill her with, he left the shotgun back there.

That and just to make things even _better_ she was right in front of the saferoom. I guess I'm going to have to do what I do best, be a distraction but first I need to get my adrenaline up to stop the pain in my leg and arm._

Uhhh…oh no. Not one of these things. I've read about them on one of the many safe room walls…they call it a witch. I believe it went something like, "Don't shoot the witches, or they'll claw through you in one swipe, tear off your limbs, stick their claws in your eye sockets, and if you're male, they'll rip off your-" okay, that's enough of that! I seriously hope they were being a little exaggerative when they wrote that…I can't feel my legs anymore. Great. Huh? Why is Nemi struggling? Alright, fine, I'll let you down.

"Wha…Nemi, where are you going?" She just ran off in the direction of that witch! Ack!

"Nemi, what are you doing? Get off her, you're gonna get hurt…! Ugh." Not only did she leap onto that witch, she's covering its eyes! Urgh, you're crazy Nemi…better get out my rifle, then. Son of a…the witch is running and screaming all over the place, I can't get a clean shot without possibly shooting Nemi, too! Augh, why did she…ohhhhh! She's trying to 'steer' the witch away from the safe room. God, Nemi, I really hope you know what you're doing. Alright…I'm in, no problem.

"Come on Nemi, get outta there!" She leaped off of the witch,

"Come on Nemi, get in here!" Alright! Thrust it shut! "…Phew. Okay…looks like we're sa-ack!" It's reaching its arms through the bars! Good lord…note to self: next time you close the door, step away from it afterwards. Ugh…and she's still screaming insanely loudly.

"Okay…no more of that." Better pull out my pistol…at least it's an easy shot, here. Boom, right in the…head? Good lord, she hardly even flinched! Shoot her again…ugh, she's still standing?

"What kind of monster are you?" One more, two more, three more…four more…five more? Finally! Thank god, she's finally down. She withstood almost an entire clip to the head…that's just…insane.

_OK, now that's enough pain for one day seriously. This guy'll end up killing me one day, but then again I suppose it's my fault for doing what I do. Well, that and this guy- my 'brother'- tends to find the most dangerous route and take it without any knowledge of what's down it, of course without me he'd be dead around about now. Well...Me and him both anyway. Without his fire power and my "lets just get this done" sense I think we'd both be dead. As he saved me from that hunter in the shop just as much as I saved him, if I never pounced it off him he would've been clawed to death and if he hadn't shot it off me, I'd be clawed to death instead so me and him both. I just hope there's another infected out there like me, 'hunter', 'smoker', blubber, muscle head or even a crying one that's like me, y'know partially sane. I'd have a friend then, maybe a 'smoker' because then I'd have somebody to crane me down places, or another 'hunter' to carry me around ha that'd be cool. Then again I doubt that another 'hunter' would be willing to join our group because they're all so closely packed and the only outcasted ones are either complete and utter idiots, or very weak and can't do anything, or they're newly changed and well can't do anything either. 'Smoker's wouldn't really believe any strength in me anyway so it's doubted they'll join either, that and they can be quite stubborn. Blubbers eh...Well, they don't really like anybody else because all the other groups make fun of them for being so fat- and they're getting _fatter_ so that doesn't help them either. Muscle heads are just complete dumbasses anyway and the crying ones...They wouldn't listen to me even if I was half-dead on the floor. I sighed, yeah way to be a pessimist, nice one Nemi. We'd have to get moving again shortly but for a while I suppose we should rest up and hope for the trail to be easy, no wait lets not hope for anything 'cause usually when you do that you end up getting a muscle head and a crying one. Sheesh._

"Okay, Nemi, let's check the damage." After fighting around with that witch, chances are she's probably got a few extra bruises than before.

"Hm…I don't really see anything wrong." Wow, she must have really done a good job harassing that witch; I can't find a single new scratch, not even under her sleeves. Whoa…now that I'm seeing her in some actual lighting, I'm really starting to see a lot of blood covering her. It's all over her…but I guess that comes with the territory.

"Man, Nemi, you're covered in blood, you know that?" Is she…grinning? That's…kinda creepy, Nemi. I went over to the desk, found some water and an old handkerchief, and came back over to my 'sis'.

"Alright…hold still for a sec. Heh…it's alright, calm down. I'm just trying to get some of that blood off ya. Who knows, we might come across another person, and we'll probably need to make you look as humanly as possible." Geez, she sure makes it obvious when she doesn't like something; she seems to hate this more than the way I carried her here. Speaking of which…I don't think I'll be doing that ever again: she's a lot heavier when she's not trying to hold herself up on my back. She dashed by me rather quickly when I told her I was done…yeah, I think she's had enough. Yawwwn…man, I'm getting tired again. Hopefully she'll let me sleep a little longer this time…I'm beat. Got my health pack for a pillow…and I've slept on the floor in the past, this won't be all that bad.

"Night, Nemi." Hm, that makes me wonder…do the infected ever sleep? Guess I can always find out later…

_I will not say it, I will not say it, God dammit I will. Not. Say. It...OK fine, I'll say it. He looks so peaceful and _cute_ when he's asleep. There, I said it now quit bugging me will you! _Hehe, you admitted he was cute!_ Only because you made me admit it. _Yeah, so? Anyway, I think you should get some sleep_. You care why again? _Because I'm not having a sleepy 'Hunter' alright? So get some sleep girl, you've endured enough for one day_. Fiiine, but only because I can't be assed hearing you nag at me in the morning. _Haha, aw._ Tssh. I walked over to a corner of the room, then curled up, closed my eyes._

"Wha…where am I? Everything's so…dark…I can't see anything!" I can feel something…my gun? Maybe it'll light up the room if I fire it…it doesn't have any bullets!

"What the…who's there? Where's that growling coming from? Hello?...Hellooooo? Um…this is…kind of scary. Gah! Who's there?" Where is that growling coming from? I'm hearing it all over the place! "Help! Somebody, help me!" It's getting louder…that growling, it sounds so familiar…is that…ack!

"Get off me! Get off of me! Nemi! Nemi! Ahhhhh!"

"Ugh! Huh? Oh…oh my-ack! Augh…sheesh, Nemi! Don't do that! God…you scared me half to death!" Oh man…was that all just a dream? It all felt so…real. I feel scared out of my mind…god, I hate nightmares. And it doesn't help if Nemi's staring right at me when I wake up. Well, I'm not going to be able to sleep again tonight…might as well get ready to head out once the sun comes up.

"Hm, let's see…is there anything around here to eat?" I can't seem to find any food anywhere around here, which reminds me, Nemi hasn't eaten anything recently either. Hopefully we'll come across something she wouldn't mind feasting on outside…it really shouldn't be a problem, to be honest. Huh? Looks like Nemi found something over by the cabinets.

"Watcha got there, Nemi?" She's holding something…it's a…bow? A bright blue bow? She seems to like it…but for what reason, I haven't a clue. I will admit, though, it's a nice colour: looks to be some kind of turquoise? I never did learn all of the different shades of blue, so I'm not quite sure.

"So, you like it, huh?" Hm…there's a little hole in the top right side of her hood. "Here Nemi, let me see that…aha!" Fits right in…awww, she looks so adorable, with her little bow, and the dark gray hood, and her…crooked smile, and…all of that blood covering half of her body…okay, I might have just made her look a little creepier. Oh well…no way I'll be confusing her with any other infected, now!

Well, you're welcome,Mr Thrash-about-and-scream-at-me-when-I-wake-him-up-to-stop-him-from-hitting-his-head-and-getting-a-concussion. OK, maybe bit too long of a name but it sums you up pretty well, I yawned then checked my bandages to make sure that they were still attached. Hey in a few more naps time I'll be able to take them off and have a brand new leg! Well, not brand new leg because then that would mean me having to rip off my leg and replace it, but I know what I mean. We did our usual routine of searching around for supplies to take with us- mainly for me to take with me anyway- and so I jumped onto his back, then he lead the way out of the door. At first there wasn't many but as we advanced onward there started to get more and more, and we soon found ourselves wanting yet another safe house to pop up somewhere, like magically appear out of nowhere. But we both knew that would never actually happen, so we kept hoping for one to be around the next corner. A low scent caught my attention. I gripped a bit tighter to alert my 'brother' and in turn he asked me what was up, I pointed to a small row of trees that were shading a small hunched figure, a low growl emitted from the creature putting our alarms on red for the moment. While My 'brother' was keeping an eye on that figure I started to notice more scents coming...A horde, great just what we needed a horde to disguise him and us so he could pounce me and rip me open while the horde took care of my bro. Well ain't I the optimist? That and, how on Earth did I know that was what he was going to do? Well, lucky guessing I suppose, and how come he wasn't shooting? Maybe because the figure hasn't moved yet.

I could feel it's eyes on me and well, it wasn't a nice feeling having another 'Hunter' glowering down at you. It's eyes shifted for a second, it then sniffed the air and gave a puzzled look before pouncing away. Huh? Did it smell the horde too? So maybe they weren't planning an ambush, or they were just...Not with the horde. The ground started rumbling...

Oh. That's what they were running away from.

Hm…another hunter, it would seem. It's just…staring at us, though. My first instinct would be to shoot it down, but ever since I met Nemi…I've always had this short, quick impulse to pause for a second before I start shooting. It makes me wonder, though…have I shot and killed any of these things that weren't actually trying to kill me first? Urgh…guess I shouldn't think about it too hard. Uh…wait a second. Why is the ground starting to rumble…?

"Uh-uh-uh…wh-what's ha-ha-happen-en-ing?" What is this, an earthquake or something? Wha…wait a second. What in the world is…?

"What the…he-he-helllllllp!" It's a giant, zombie, muscular, monstrous…thing! What are we supposed to do against something like that? And there's a ton of other infected people following right behind it! Good lord, this is not going to end well!

"Gah…the bullets! They do nothing!" Gotta run, gotta run…quick, into the woods!

"Gahhhhh, he's running right through the trees!" What're we supposed to do now? I hate to say it…but with Nemi injured and my guns not doing a thing…I think we might actually be done for.

"Hurgh…can't…keep running…" We're gonna need a miracle to get out of this one alive...what?

"Ack, hunter!" Whoa…it nearly knocked me down! Wait…did that hunter just jump onto that thing's head?

"Uhhhm…" Speechlessness. Just...just wow.

_Hey, that's that Hunter from earlier! But, what the hell's it doing? Ohh, I see! I jumped on top of it's head too and helped steer it, the other Hunter laughs in a Hunterish way really, so it's more like a snigger more than anything.

I couldn't help but admit though, this was pretty fun! We ended up driving it near a ditch and he held up his hand, at first I wondered what he was doing, then he started to put down a finger the closer we got to the ditch. When he was about to put the last finger down, we jumped. He rolled to break his fall but I uhm...Well mine was less graceful lets just say that. He helped me up and smiled, which was a bit weird for a hunter considering they...Well, they're usually all malicious.  
"Name's Jase, but shush. 'kay?" Hey! At least give me time to answer...He pounced off before I could say anything, which was stupid. If you're going to ask a question at least stick around for an answer...Unless it's rhetorical. Anyways, I need to find brother...Wait a second, I can't walk! Daamnn...  
This just gets better and better._

"Nemi? Neeeeemiiiiii?" Augh, where is she? She definitely surprised me by hopping onto that thing…hope it didn't hurt her, or…eat her. Ack, what? Why did I have to go and think of that? Not exactly a mental picture I'd like to keep having…now I have to find her, or else I'm just gonna keep picturing it from now on! Hm…hey, there's a hunter! Oh wait, that can't be Nemi…there's no way she'd be able to move that well with her leg-oh my God, she might be trapped! Or worse, she could be getting attacked by other hunters, or worse! What if she needs help? She couldn't escape with her leg like that! Ohhh no, I gotta move quick! Okay, where did that hunter head off to? Maybe it was running away from where that giant thing went…I don't hear it anymore, so that's always good. Or…it's not making any more noise because it got what it wanted-gah! Stupid mental picture, go away! Come on, Nemi, you gotta be okay!

"Nemi? Nemi! Nemi, where are you?" Ahhhhh, dang it! There's a gi-normous trail, and it ends…no, in this ditch!

"Nemi? No, where are you?" There's nothing here…just this ditch, and…the monster's inside it! Oh no, what if it fell on her? Nooo, no, no!

"Nemi, where are you? Are you down there, can you hear me? Nooo, Nemiiii!" Awww-oh my God, she's gone! I couldn't save her! I couldn't…huh? Oh…there's a tap on my shoulder, and it's…

"Nemi!" Ohhh, I tacklehugged her, I'm just too happy not to! I don't care if she smells like rotten flesh and she's covered in blood, "I'm so happy you're okay!"

_Woah! Never heard of a human tackling a hunter to the ground but hey, it was a nice change. I squeezed him as he laughed- or...cried?- into me and I couldn't help but give out a small hunterish laugh at him for worrying. Never had somebody worry about me before, especially not while I was a hunter, so it's a new feeling. It was a nice feeling at that but you know. Anyway when he parted from me I climbed onto his back and we walked back through the forest and onto the trail, minding all of the bodies when a small coughing noise was heard.  
Great. A 'Smoker'...

A tongue shot out and somehow snagged my brother from me. How the hell did they manage to do that? Shaking the thought away, after my brother's miserable attempt at shooting it, I gathered up my adrenaline and pounced out after him.  
I caught up after a few pounces and scratched the tongue away from my brother, he thanked me- probably realizing his own stupidity, or the 'Smoker's intelligence- and let me climb on his back again.  
That's when the pain hit me. I forgot about my leg...I cringed a little, I think he noticed...Oops._

Awww, now I'm covered in spit, too. Undead spit…compliments perfectly with the mixture of rotten remains and blood on my clothes. I really need to change out of my current apparel…it's mostly torn and stained, anyway. Dang, that was my favourite shirt, too! Well, guess I need a new favourite shirt. "Grrrraugh!" What the…

"Was that you, Nemi?" Oh, she's lowering her head as if she thinks she can hide it.

"Yeah, nice try. I know it was you. Come on, let's find somewhere to rest. I'd rather be holed up somewhere for three days, making no progress, than die because one of us wasn't at full strength…or couldn't aim perfectly." I see her staring me down with those glaring eyes of hers…"What? It's…my shoulder. Really." Yeah…she probably didn't buy that. My ability to see through other people is only complimented by them seeing through me. Oh well…I don't really mind being unable to lie; honesty isn't exactly a trait I dislike having.

"Well, Nemi…we've finally made it to another safehouse. And I'm not sure if you completely understand what I'm saying here…but we're gonna be staying until you almost completely recover. Can't have you leaping at things if…" Awww, she's out like a light. Guess I'll tell her tomorrow about my new plan.

Well the plan of 'trying to hide the twitch' went PERFECTLY...At least we're in a safehouse and well...When I woke up my bro was checking out of the saferoom door, probably to see if anything was out there but there wasn't, for now anyway. I let a small groan escape my throat to let him know I was there and awake, he turned and smiled at me then said something about him glad I was awake. But we weren't moving until...I was better? That was unfair...I'm a hunter, I can do these things. I won't get any stronger otherwise!

That's how the other hunters get stronger...

...Oh well, I guess I can't really go against his rules. Or...Can I? He noticed my smirk. Oops, was it really that sinister? Oh well, it's worth I try.

ACK! OK...I can't even stand up, that plan went out the window pretty damn quickly. So, we're stuck here.

What if one of those big things come again? What if that other hunter- what was his name again?- wasn't there to help us this time? I think my human never thought this one through.

…Ohhh no. I saw this coming…she really doesn't want to be cooped up in here.

"Listen Nemi, I know you don't like being here…especially somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with hardly anything out here, but we can't just go rushing out there when neither of us even able to fight back effectively." Ugh, she's trying to get up…and she fell back down. She can hardly even move…

"Nemi, how do you think you'll be able to fight something if you can't even run? That's like one of those long-tongued things trying to fight something after its tongue's just been cut off: they're not gonna win. At the very least, just take a break off of your leg for a day." Sigh…she's trying to get up again. I gotta show her I mean business; pushing her back to the ground, and-augh!

"Nemi, stop it! Ack! Ow…what was that for?" She just scratched me…and now she's turning away.

"Uuugh…maybe you'll stop hating me tomorrow. I'm goin' to sleep…" I just hope she doesn't try to break the door down.

_Well, I don't want to be trapped in here until I get better...If I have nowhere to go then I might as well do some leg exercises in here. He tried to push me back down as I did them though, so while he's asleep I'll do them. It sounds weird but it's the only way we actually repair ourself, if we just leave it to heal and not work it, it'll just tear the wound back open when we move it. I definitely need to learn how to spea- Unless... I've picked up a small pen lounging on the barn floor, obviously what the last survivor wrote.

I wonder if I can write it all out on the wall...

...So I crawled over to wall and began trying to write at least a small paragraph. Okay...How to write...Damn! I've forgotten how to write! Maybe brother'll know. Besides it'll pass the time.  
I'll just draw something for now.

Time to get scribbling._

Ahhh…a bright, sunny morning. Haven't had one of these in awhile…huh? What is Nemi doing over there…?

"Uhhh…watcha doin' there, Nemi?" She's turning to me…heh, she's covered in pen ink. I'm not cleaning you up this time…hmmm, what is this?

"Have you been drawing on the wall?" Uhhh…this looks like some kind of cloud? Or maybe a tree? This looks like a…a….thing. Maybe a bunny, holding a carrot? I haven't got a clue. And what was she doing here…? Looks like a couple of circles, with one of them connected to some lines, and the other behind the lines, with an oval surrounding it…?

"Is…that us, Nemi?" She's grinning…it just might be. Hmm…she's shaking the pen. Probably out of ink…not too hard to imagine, considering she might have been doing this all night. Man, there's stuff all over the walls! This looks like…the standard shape of a bird, in the shape of an upside W? Man…guess she really needed an outlet, considering she couldn't run around or chase people.

"Ooof! What the…yes, Nemi, that's your pen." Yeah…it's out of ink, alright.

"And it's empty…sorry, I don't see any other pens." Oh…now she's giving me sad eyes and a wide frown.

"Look, Nemi, I'm sorry, but there aren't any…" Aaaaagh, stop looking at me like that!

"Come on, I'm not going out to look for more art supplies!" Oh no, she's starting to stand up again.

"Okay! Okay, fine! I'll go look for some other things for you to draw with, just don't hurt yourself!" Sigh…one of these days, I'll learn to say no to her. Then we'll see who scratches who…

Hmmm, nothing out here. There aren't even any monsters…not that I'm complaining, though. Ah ha! A couple paint canisters…oh boy, red and black. Haven't been seeing enough of these colours over the past few weeks…oh well, if it makes her calm down, then I guess it's good enough.

Well, if he can tell what this is I'll be happy, because I certainly can't. All I know is that there's me and him stood somewhere...Well, at least I think it's him. Then again there's two others stood around 'me' I guess he didn't see those, or maybe I've just drawn them. I don't know I cant usually remember what I've drawn...Oh he's back, and what's that? I walked over to see what it was and he told me not to touch it or I'll get it all over myself...Well, it's not like it wouldn't fit.

It doesn't smell very nice either...  
I actually recoiled a little when I caught another sniff of the stuff. Nope, not nice. He then began to take out an object, proceeded to dip it a little, and then proceeded to move it in between the lines of what I drew... I gave a puzzled look to him.

He told me it was called 'painting' and you have to do it in between the lines of the actual drawing. The object he is holding is called a 'paint brush'.

I wanted to 'paint' as well...But there's no other brush, I looked at my hand. Hehe, idea!

"So Nemi, what colour should I use to paint these circles?" I turned over, and there she was, hunched over the paint can. Ohhh no, she isn't…yeah, she is. She's dunking her hand into the red colored paint. I can only imagine how messy this place is gonna be in a few seconds. Well, I guess I better keep doing the picture I'm on…hm. Now that I look at it…it seems like there are three figures in this connected drawing; no, four. What in the world was she making? One of them stands out, so I'm guessing that's me, if I'm to believe this drawing has us in it. Then these other two…they kinda look like her. What in the world is this, anyway? She's-whoa!

"Holy…ohhh boy." She's throwing that paint all over the place. Got a pretty nice blotch on me, as well. And I know for a fact that she's gonna be covered in it, herself…although it won't really stand out, considering all of the red stuff on her already. Note to self: in next town, find a store and get some clothes out of there.

Well…at least she's getting most of it in the lines. Can't really fault her method, it's definitely working. Oh, looks like she noticed my 'work'.

"Yeah…I'm not sure what it is, Nemi. Don't you?" Just a…simple look back. Even if she completely understood me, she still looks a tad clueless about it. I wish I could draw like that…make random pictures that my subconscious was telling me to make. Mine always turn into swerving lines…and that's about it. Hm…she's dipping into the paint again. And she's putting…smiles on the circles? Maybe this is a picture of some people, after all.

"Hey…did you just got paint on me, Nemi?" Ack! She just threw it on me!

"Okay, that's it! You're getting the same treatment!" Oh man…I'm gonna really need a shower after this.

Oops, I got paint on him and now he's looking at me with a vengeance. He's picked up one of the paint things, and he's getting closer. Oh, you've just walked straight into my trap my dear brother. One pounce and all of that paint was all over him.

Hahahaha, I had to pounce off quickly before he grabbed me but now I'm stuck to the ceiling. Oh the glares are amazing. It's not every day I get to do a prank on somebody! Be glad you got it done by the all infamous Nemi! I guess I should apologize though...That and my leg's starting to hurt again. So I got down from the ceiling and he was tapping his foot at me, I bowed my head in apology but...

...Nice going smartass, just pour paint all over me. I swear if this infects my wound I'll make sure you have a few.  
I pounced him and made sure that I smeared it all over his face, then proceeded to stay sat ontop of him until he apologized. Well, now you have to clean me up again and replace my bandages and perhaps we can find a new hoodie for me and um...Some new clothes for you.

I giggled a little thinking about it. Now that I think about it, the town isn't too far away from here. I guess we could head out in an hour or so and we'd make it by sunset, or maybe even earlier which would give my brother ample time to get restocked and prepared!Auuuuugh…okay, that's enough! "Enough Nemi, I give!" She's laughing hysterically with her wide grin…at least she's having a good time, I guess. Glad somebody is…I'm gonna have to keep an eye on her from now on: no way am I going to let that kind of thing happen to me again.

"Okay, let me get up. I need to get clean, somewhere." Hopefully the water still works at the farmhouse, and I can only hope that there's something else for me to wear inside. Grab my gun, Nemi's on my back…okay, we're good to go.

Hmmm, there doesn't seem to be any undead around here…thank the lord. I think I can rest my gun next to the sink. Time for the moment of truth…yes! Water's pouring out of the sink, and it's hot too: just the way I like it.

"Okay, Nemi…I don't think you need to see me get undressed,"…she's not moving.

"Ooo-kay, time to go." Urgh…why aren't you moving?

"I'll be fine by myself, really! Are you worried or something…?" Okay, she's finally heading out the door, time to turn on the…great. The shower isn't working. Guess I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way: fill a bucket with hot water, pour it on me, and repeat. Now, all I gotta do is find a bucket…I wonder if Nemi saw one nearby?

Aha! A bucket, just what we need. Well, he's messy and I doubt his fat head'll fit under that tap. Hehe, I called his head fat. I knocked on the door to where he was and he peeked around the corner, I offered the bucket; he thanked me then went straight back in. It's not like I haven't seen a naked person before...Shaking it out of my head I decided that I would go paint something.

It would be blue, and it will be pretty and I shall call it squishy and it shall be mine and it will be my squishy. Wait what? Nevermind, I clambered out of a nearby window with a paint brush and blue paint I found in another room.

Scaling the wall I found a nice spot, with a small window ledge I could keep my paint bucket on, I began to paint a nice picture.

Almost done...Now I just need to- Huh where's my bucket?

"Aaaauuugh!" ….He didn't... Oh he did. Oops, maybe not the best of places to put it.

"Ohhhh no…ohhhh no, no, no…" Great. Just what I needed, a layer of blue paint all over me. I can't believe I didn't double check to see if there was some paint at the bottom of the bucket…well, guess what, genius? There was. Ugh…how am I still alive if my instincts can't even catch this? Oh, I'm not even gonna be able to show my face without feeling bad. Who knows, though…maybe the zombies will take one look at me, and then collapse onto the ground because they're laughing so hard at my face. Ick…it's oozing out of my hair, dripping down my sides…luckily it didn't go down the front of me too much…and it missed most of my face, at least, except for dripping onto my nose. Ohhh, Nemi…I can't believe you did that! I thought we were through with this pranking business…now you go and do this, too? Ugh…I can't even clean myself up anymore than this, either! I'm stuck like this until we find somewhere else that I can get into a shower…great, just great. Okay, better put on my clothes again really quick…open the door, and oh…look who we have here. Yeah, that's right…laugh it up, Nemi. Sheesh, she's brought new meaning to the phrase, "rolling on floor laughing."

"I've had enough of you for one day." I'm so mad I could shut the door on her…as far as I'm concerned, she can walk the rest of the way.

Okay, here's the farmers' bedroom. Hopefully there's something here I can wear…hm, there's a blue shirt, light khakis and a white cap sitting on the bed…no. Just…no. I'm not wearing that. Okay, let's see…these jeans are a little wide, but there's a belt here too. Here's a grey hoodie, that'll cover up my blue hair nicely. Okay…I think I'm ready. Though I'm feeling a little more blu-…unhappy, than before.

I never meant to! Honest! But the look on your face and the fact that you were dumb enough to not check was just too hilarious hahaha! Well, he can't do much without my anyway and so I'll have to find him a shower or something...In fact...

I found one of those things he cleaned my face with a while back, and so I dragged him back into the bathroom then proceeded to pin him down and I managed to clean the blue off his face and neck. He wasn't too happy about me pinning him but when he looked in a nearby mirror- that was surprisingly not shattered- Brother was a bit happier with his not-so-blue looking face. I guess that makes an apology?

Anyhow, I cleaned myself up with the 'rag' as well then climbed onto his back and we set out for adventure again. There were less infected than normal but we didn't mind, it was a bit of a blessing. Then again in wide open fields like this one you wouldn't expect many because they'd be scattered all over the place.

Unbeknownst to my brother -who I still need to give a name to other than 'brother'- I'd stocked up on plenty of ammunition just in case.

A screech caught my ears attention. My brother heard it as well, we both stood on guard but...I noticed something. The Screech seemed to be saying something, like...A message.

"It's coming"

I don't think my brother can understand that, but as I'd translated it a Hunter flew past over our heads and darted away only to begin screeching the same words, over and over again. Strange.

So, here we are again…walking down the road, gun in hand, hunter riding shotgun. I was still a little ticked off at her for helping cover me in another layer of paint, but I suppose she could have eaten me long ago, and that would have been a little worse than making me look like a smurf. I'm not even sure why she's been hanging around me in the first…hey! Is that…? It is! A military encampment, surrounded by barbed wire! And there's the entrance, right in front of the next city! Finally, a place where I can rest…they might even help me find my way back home! Oh, that would be so great…

Alright, here we are. Two soldiers are guarding the entrance…a man and a woman, I think. Better holster my weapon, don't want to make it seem like I'm about to shoot at them…alright, we're set.

"Well Nemi, let's do this. Excuse me, I-"

"Halt! Who are you?"

"Uh…I'm a survivor!"

"Put your hands in the air, so we may search you!" Uh…a little hostile, but in this apocalyptic world, I can't very well blame them for it. Even cops had to handcuff hostages, just in case.

"Okay…I'm listening."

"What is that on your back?" …Oh no.

"Is that…hey, is that one of those monsters that jump on your shoulders and starts attacking your head?"

"You mean a jockey? Yeah, it does!"

"No, wait, it's not-ack!" They're firing at us!

"What are you doing? Stop firing at-AUGH!" Oh my…they shot me? Ugh…it hurts so much…I can barely stand up. Huh? Nemi just leapt off of me.

"Augh! Get off of me, freak!" She just tore that rifle apart…oh no, the other guard finished reloading!

"Nemi, watch out!" Whew…she got the other one just in time. That's good…that's…urrrgh…good…nnngh.

Nobody hurts my big brother and gets away with it!  
I tore through the male guard's protected chest and managed to get to the skin underneath, my claws tore through it like a hot knife through butter, his screams were pacified by his own blood. I got down to his lungs before hearing a loud plea from the female, to just stop hurting him.

_How could I though? _He hurt my brother!__

That was when it hit me... This guy who I've attacked is just another human, like my brother is. She must care for him a lot and I don't like it when somebody hurts him so, why should I hurt somebody else? I looked toward the female, I then stood and grabbed her by the arm. She screamed a little but I dragged her to my brother anyway. I threw her next to him and then pointed down to the bullet wounds.

She got the idea, but she said to me she couldn't help him...I growled. She said for me to let her get somebody who could help instead, so I looked at her then at her friend. I pointed to her and made a small threat what I remembered, which was to drag your finger horizontally across your neck.

I can honestly say I have never seen somebody run so fast in my little life. I crouched next to my brother and lapped up some of the blood around the wounds in an attempt to clean them, sure it wasn't the best thing to do but I could smell from the red-liquid that he was totally immune to it. It stopped the bleeding a little.

Sooner or later the woman came back with somebody else, I could tell that they were frightened but came over anyway. They brought a large bed what I learned is called a 'stretcher' and they placed him on there. I wanted to go with him but...

...They said they couldn't let me in.


	3. New Partner

*Gasp*! Augh…ugh…oh, where am I?"

"You're in the clinic, son." Whoa…there's a guy in a white labcoat standing next to me. I'm on a flatbed, covered by a blanket…and surprisingly clean.

"Wha…how long have I been out?"

"Oh…only for a few hours."

"Mm…I see. Wait, Nemi! Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Nemi! She's a…" Oh, right. Probably shouldn't say directly what she is. "She's a…younger girl, that was traveling with me."

"Was she your girlfriend or somethin'?"

"What? Oh, god no!"

"Well…then why are you so worried about her?"

"She's…kind of like a sister to me."

"Ah, I see. Well, there wasn't anyone that came in with you, so…sorry, son."

"What happened to me? One minute I was standing outside with her, and then-"

"Ah, yeah. Those nitwits out there thought there was a jockey on you, so they started shootin' without even knowin' what it was! Let me tell you, they won't be holdin' a gun for a looong time. Not as long as I have anythin' to say about it, anyway."

"So…you have no idea where she is?"

"No, sorry. I never heard word of her, anyway. Hope she's not still out there, though, if she's still alive…"

"Uh…why's that? Is there something about to happen?"

"Ch, hell yeah there is! There's about to be a bombin' soon, comin' straight from the military! They're droppin' some…toxin, or somethin', supposed to kill anythin' that even breathes a molecule of it."

"Oh no…Nemi's out there!"

"Wait, where are you goin'?"

"I gotta find her! When is this bombing supposed to happen?"

"Real soon! But you think you can find her before then?"

"…I gotta try."

"Well…alright, then. Here's what you were wearin' when they brought you in."

"Thanks, hopefully I'll see you again soon." I'm outta here…gotta find her before something bad happens!

Why am I so twitchy, and what the hell is that smell? It's not a boomer, not a hunter, definitely not a smoker. Not a Witch or a Tank or anything! That sucks, so badly. I caught a glimpse of something running past me shouting a name, wait...Is that? Bro? What're you doing out here! You're injured! Jeeeeez...I ran up to him in case he ran any further, and I could instantly tell by the look on his face he knew something bad would happen, so I complied then followed him.

Of course as soon as we went back in again I was charged at. They attempted to pin me down as my brother told them to stop, I may be small but it doesn't mean I'm weaker than them. I threw one over me and landed ontop of them, they began to shout at their comrades but when they say I wasn't doing anything and just glowering at them. I think they got the idea.

One of the doctors ran in through a nearby door; demanding explanations- until he saw me at least. Then he just freaked out. My brother managed to calm him, and I could hear him explaining that I was the one he was talking about previous, of course he couldn't tell them because of what I was but the doctor seemed to understand.

It seemed that the Doctor was in charge because he told them not to shoot me, then told my brother to come and bring me. Wonder why...

Damn, this twitchy feeling won't go!

"Doc, listen, you gotta let her in!"

"No way, son! She's infected!"

"So? She won't hurt anyone, I promise!"

"She just pounced one of the guards!"

"Yeah, well…she didn't hurt them, now did she?"

"…Do you have that thing under control?"

"Okay, first off, she's not a thing, alright? She's a person inside underneath that hunter skin of hers. Second, she won't hurt a fly as long as everyone remains calm and sees her as what she really is: a human being with physical changes, and nothing more."

"How do we know we can trust you?"

"You saw her take out that guard…as well as those two at the front gate. I don't think you really have a choice if you value the lives of those inside this encampment."

"…Fine. You may stay…for now."

"Thank you, that's all that I ask. Come on Nemi, let's go inside the clinic for a bit." She hopped on my back, and we went into the small doctor's room.

"You're going to be staying in the clinic for awhile. I dare not let her outside where anyone might see her and get startled, or worse, try to hurt her; I don't want a panicky encampment trying to attack you two."

"I understand, doc…we'll try to stay hidden within the crowd."

"And she never leaves this room, you hear me?"

"I do, yes."

"Good…now, I must be off. I need to speak with someone before I can safely keep you here…" And he's gone. I see Nemi looking back at me, curiously…

"I don't know what's gonna happen, either, Nemi. Guess we just have to wait and see…"

I don't know whether I can trust that guy or not, especially considering the vibes I sensed off him. He seems interested in me, that much I can tell. Despite that though I was curious on why my brother had such trust in him. Sure he's a 'doctor' but it doesn't mean I can trust him.  
All I know is we're in some kind of pale room, with a small bed, a few chairs and a lot of weird looking stuff on the shelves...There isn't all that much in this room.

The man walked back into the room and had a small conversation with my brother, what I didn't really listen in to. I was too busy watching my brother's body movements and the other man's to see how they reacted. Everytime I made a small growl to myself the man seemed to tense but my brother made no notification.  
Then again, he was used to it.

After a while my brother told me to follow him, but...I don't want to go anywhere without my brother. So naturally, I refused."Come on, Nemi, you better go." She's just sitting there…unmoving. And with an unpleasant frown on her face, too.

"Augh, come on, it won't be so bad." Sheesh…I can't even push her. She must really not want to go with the doctor.

"Grrrr…"

"Alright, fine, I'll go with you. Is that alright, Doc?"

"Um…yes, if you must." Wait…did she just tell me that she wanted me to come with her? I could have sworn…

"Come, let us go then. The general is not of the patient type."

"Alright Nemi, let's hurry." She's on my back, and we're heading out. Hm…quite a few people are staring at us.

"Here, keep your hood down. There." If they can't see her face, they might just think she's shy. Well…a human that's shy, anyway. Okay, this is a fairly large tent. Definitely looks like it's for the more…'important' people, to put it one way.

"Here we are…just stay quiet and let me do the talking." Wow…take a look at this guy. Even in an undead apocalypse, he makes sure he's decorated his attire with medals.

"Sir? We are here…these are the two that I spoke of earlier."

"Ah, I see…well met, son."

"Uh…thank you, sir."

"And I believe this is the infected…human girl."

"Yes general, it is."

"Thank you doctor…you may take your leave, now."

"But…but sir-" "I said you are dismissed, doctor."

"…Very well sir."

"Now…who do we have here?"

"She's a girl I found out in the wilderness…she likes to be called 'Nemi'."

"Nemee, huh? Well…if she's going to stay here, son, I'm going to need to check up on every piece of information you have about her. Would you mind stepping into my office? The S.I.D. would be very interested in her…"

"The…sid, sir?"

"Yes…the Smoker Intelligence Division. So far they've only managed to find and capture a single infected, a smoker as we've come to call it. In fact…he's right here." Right by the door, sitting in a cage…there he is.

"Horrid thing, with a tongue that could hang you from a mile away."

"Ah…I've seen those before."

"Please…leave your, 'friend', out here if you would. She'll be fine with this other infected being."

"I…see. I'll be right back, Nemi. Try not to destroy anything while I'm out, alright?"

Wait, bro! Where are you going? Surely you're not going to just leave me here...Wait, why are you putting me in here! Hey! Don't leave me!

Pleaase! Oh come on! That's just cruel...

I heard a small snigger than a cough from behind me, who's there?

"Me? -cough- nobody in particular..." doesn't seem that way... "trust me -cough- it is, besides who-cough- is that person you -cough- travel with?" Oh him? He's my brother.

"Your brother -cough- is a human?" Well, no not really. He's not my literal brother, I just call him that because he protects me. By the way, why are you in here?

"Because-cough- I seem to be more intelligent than most other infected. You'v probably been in here too because-cough- you're also more intelligent than the other -cough- infected," I see...Hey somebodies coming? What's going to happen to us now?

"They'll do a few tests but -cough- don't worry, they don't hurt," They better not.

"So…I imagine that you are immune to this…'infection'." This general is serious…in more ways than one.

"Immune? What do you mean?"

"Look around you, boy…these infected monsters didn't come out of nowhere. They were all human at one point. Not anymore, of course."

"I wouldn't say that all of them have lost their humanity…er, sir."

"And why would you say that? Because of that single hunter you have out there?"

"Well…if she hasn't tried to kill me, then there must be at least a few others out there that feel the same way, right?"

"…" Oh boy…I don't like the looks of this.

"Listen, son…I have seen far too many of my comrades turned into one of these monstrosities to be giving any leniency on how these…'things' should be treated. I've had to kill my own men after they've turned, just so they wouldn't turn the remainder of us to make us do the same. Now…my orders are to take in a special kind of infected."

"You…mean like a hunter?"

"Not exactly. I'm referring more to an infected that still has remnants of humanity left in them. However…I am not quick to provide mercy to these monsters. If that thing out there goes and tries to turn a single person in this encampment, then this entire area would be contaminated. In other words…if your little even looks like it'll become hostile…", he's pulling out a pistol, "…I won't hesitate to kill the both of you."

"*Gulp*, um…okay. Just don't try to hurt her, or me, and she should leave everyone here alone."

"…I hope you are right. For both your sakes." Well…dodged a bullet there.

"Hey, get back here!" Huh? What was that? It sounded like it was coming from outside the door! "Hey, what are you doing? Is there someone out there with her?"

"Yes, there is. They are likely trying to sedate it so they can transport it to somewhere they can test its sanity." He's arming his weapon again…

"That isn't a problem, is it?" God, how do we keep ending up in these kinds of situations, even in an encampment?

"Urgh, you get back here!" I can hear a couple of men outside the room, shouting at what I can only guess is Nemi. Uh-huh…there she is, hopping around from one side of the room to the other whenever one of them gets close. Now they're all standing at the corners…sorry guys, that probably won't work. Yeee-ep, now she just leapt to the ceiling. And judging by her growls, she's laughing at 'em.

"Heh…you'll never catch her that way."

"Oh yeah?", one of them's asking. "Then how do we get her?"

"Pffft, had you tried just asking her?"

"…" The entire room's silent now: can't really blame 'em, though.

"Well? Go on, it's not that hard."

"Um…okay. Excuse me, uh…"

"Nemi."

"Yes, uh, Nemi…could you please come down here? We need to give you a mild sanative that will put you to sleep for a few minutes, so we can safely move you to a more secure location."

"…She's not moving!"

"You didn't say please."

"Oh come on, seriously?" I think you can tell by my serious look that I'm not kidding, guys.

"Hurgh…okay, fine. Please come down, Ms. Nemi?" Okay…she's slowly crawling down.

"See…that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Heh, I could say the same thing to all of you." They're looking at me glaringly…sheesh, don't give me that!

Hehehe, that'll show them. Although, I don't really like needles but at least they told me what they were going to do so, I guess it's not that bad. Although the Smoker back there could've at least told me what they would do, he just said it wouldn't hurt. Considering my brother was there and he told them what they had to do, I guess I'd better obey these people and do what they say I don't want to give a bad impression on him. Then again, why the hell do I care? Oh yeah, because he's saved my ass countless times.

I tackled my bro to the ground and hugged him, I didn't really want to be taken away by them but oh well, might as well give him a hug while I can. I think they thought I was attacking him until he put his arms around me too, yay.

One thing I love about my bro is that he's always so warm and comfy, so comfy...

"Um…Nemi?" Wow…she's completely knocked out. Either that or she's faking it so she can have an ample opportunity to scare me to death. Hm…no, she definitely looks like she's out. Whoa, feels like she's out, too. I'm gonna have to actually try to lift her up, for once.

"Is…is she-?"

"Yeah, she's asleep. Urrrgh, okay…there we go." At least I can still carry her from the front.

"You got her, kid?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just tell me where we're going."

"Alright men, you heard him." Speaking again, eh General?

"You need to get it to the testing facility before it wakes up and everything becomes compromised." Not very trusting, are you?

"Move out!"

Well, at least this...'facility' can't be too far away. Lil' Nemi feels a lot heavier when she's not holding herself up. Kind of reminds me of when I used to carry my sister up the stairs after she would fall asleep on the couch…sigh, just focus. We're finally here. Wow…they went all out for this area. This building is huge compared to the rest of the camp site. In fact, it's more of a fortress than a building. I guess this is the military station…

"Knock knock, private." Pretty fortified door they got, here: it's got the sliding opening at the top and everything. Whoop, speak of the devil.

"Uh, yes sir?"

"We're here to transport these two to the testing facility, open up."

"Uh, sorry sir, but I gotta ask you for the password."

"…Just open the door, already."

"Okay, sir." Hm…Nemi's starting to become a little restless. I wonder…can the infected still dream?

I woke up slightly, my body twitched a little which usually meant something was going to screw up. My leg wasn't that much better either, especially after all of that pouncing I did to escape them. Owie.

The room is pretty big, with a few large things in one of the corners looking directly at me. It moves every so often, makes a small noise. My brother was forced to let go of me and I was left in the room with a scientist of some sort.

He said to me that it was a simple exercise of agility, which is literally pouncing and running. I lifted up my pant leg to show him my bandage, and he said it didn't matter that I was injured he'd just mark it down that I wasn't at my full strength. Fair enough.

First was the pouncing activity. One of the guards was brought inside completely unarmed, as he was told what he was supposed to do a small platform raised within the room and I was told to stand upon it. So I pounced up, then saw the scientist write something down.  
I was then told to pounce to a platform which came out the side of the wall, at first I wondered how to do it. I thought about it, then when it clicked I decided to jump up to the wall and then as I hit it I digged my claws partially in and ran across it to the platform; which I stood on quite proudly.

The scientist looked quite impressed and the solider -although had no expression- I could sense he was shocked. Not to raise my ego or anything. A platform appeared slightly higher, higher than a normal jump of course I tested this and my claws only just scraped it. I used my claws to scale the wall and climb onto the platform, which promptly shocked me. I gave out a surprised yelp at this, but resisted the urge to let go I withheld the pain and climbed up.  
Ow, that hurt.

I was then told to jump down onto the soldier. I thought it was suspicious at first but it is a test, and I had to comply I saw -and sensed- nothing on him so I complied. I hit him with some force because I noticed the wind got knocked out of him. I nuzzled up to make an apology and he ruffled my hair as if to say 'doesn't matter'.

I glanced up at his face and noticed a certain sadness within his eyes what made me a little nervous, I brought it down to the fact he just had the wind knocked out but...Something bothered me about it, I couldn't put my claw on it though.

Oh well, onto the next test!

Man…I wonder what else they're going to test her on. I wish they didn't force me to sit behind this one-way window, though. What could it have hurt to have me in there with her?

"Hmph…you're still here?"

"Oh, general…glad to see you too, sir."

"Enough sarcasm, son…is it performing well?"

"SHE is performing fine. But yeah, it's not like these tests are all that bad, anyway. Or at least for her."

"Well, we actually would prefer if it remains alive, boy, so yes. They're not going to be too difficult."

"Would've preferred if you hadn't charged the walls to shock her full of electricity, though."

"You can never be too careful, boy."

"Of course…so, what's the story with that guy in there?"

"Which?"

"The soldier. The one Nemi just tackled."

"Ah, yes…I believe that is the new private, Michaels. Or, 'Mikey,' as most of the other men seem to call him."

"Mikey, huh?"

"We've been using him for training exercises, as well as for use in exams such as these against the infected."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Unfortunately, he lacks the hand-eye coordination and mental capabilities to become anything other than a private. So, we use him where he is still useful."

"You mean as a punching bag?"

"We prefer 'training assistant', boy."

"I thought you said 'you could never be too careful' a moment ago. Sir."

"…" The silent treatment, huh? You're hiding something, general, that much is certain. Just look at Nemi's exercises…they were supposed to make sure she was stable in the mind, and that was it. They're testing her reflexes, her strength…all of her abilities as a whole. There's something going on here…I just hope we don't find out the hard way.

"Alright boy, we're moving on."

"What's next?"

"We'll need to test her agility and reflexes. The next room over here, as you can see, contains several holders from the ceiling, each holding a ball. The balls will be randomly dropped from the ceiling, and your hunter friend will try to catch as many as she can before they hit the floor."

"Okay…sounds simple enough, I suppose."

Well, OK what the hell do I do here? The scientist explained I had to grab as many on these little balls as possible without them hitting the ground. They're small enough to put in my pockets so that's what I'll do, the same guard is in there with a bucket and he's placed it where the balls won't drop, I'm gathering that's where I have to put them all. The scientist points out what I've already said and then says that as soon as a ball hits the floor an alarm will sound and I'll have to stop my ball-catching and place the remaining balls into the bucket.

It sounds simple enough but I don't know how heavy the balls are, and of course it depends on how heavy they are to see how fast they fall. The scientist said that we had to begin, and set off a small alarm; probably to let the people watching know that the test had started.

The balls fell and they fell quite slowly to my surprise; I had no trouble catching them at all. After that the scientist said that the balls would fall with more speed as the test progressed.  
The alarm went off and I repeated what I did the first time.

I began to notice an increase in speed, in how they dropped and I began to wear out.

After a while my leg decided to give in, and I yelped in pain; sending out an alarm from the ball I'd missed in doing so, for some reason my leg then recovered as well and I managed to sit cross-legged and pout. The scientist took a look at my bandage and it seemed fine.

He wrote down my score for that test – which I could've done better if I wasn't injured.

We carried on to another room. It's a very large white room with a small bullseye between lines with measured a certain distance between them, at the end of every line was a small machine and a long yellow thing -I think it was a tape measure- going through a vertical line. The guard was asked to stand on the first target.

The scientist told me I had to pounce him and so I did. He marked something down, and told me to go back to my first position.  
The guard then moved to the second target; I'm getting the idea here, I have to pounce him and they're recording how far I can pounce without needing a second pounce...

...I kind of felt sorry for the guard.

"So…how well is she doing in these tests?"

"To be completely honest, much better than I would have previously thought: especially with that wound on her leg."

"I see…" I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. She's stepping up again to pounce at that guard…I don't know who I feel more sorry for, the guy getting pounced and flying several meters backwards, or Nemi for still being in pain. I wish we could have just one day where she didn't apply anything to it…she would've been healed by now.

"So, when will you start performing tests for her mentality, sir?"

"That will be right after this test." Of course it will be.

"Grrrraaah!"

"Ahhhhhhh-oof!" Holy cow, did she just jump over 10 yards?

"That was…insane. Wow, go Nemi!"

"Yes…yes it was." Man, that guy must have flown 5 feet backwards. Looks like Nemi's giving her apology…why am I feeling a tad…jealous, of that guy? Euuugh…never thought I'd feel jealous about getting pounced like that. But, I guess that's just how Nemi shows she cares. And in a world like this…it's nice to know at least someone out there cares about ya.

"Alright, I think we're done here. Let's get going and finish these tests; I can't just stand around here all day."

"What exactly do you do around here, general, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Grrr…less than I had hoped."

"Do you have any idea about what's going on around the world? Like…any other areas of survival, or anything?"

"All we know, son, as that only about 10% of mankind has survived this…'zombie apocalypse.' But what we do know, is that we are to remain at this station, and await further information. That is all I have been told, and that's exactly what we are going to do."

"Fair enough, I suppose."

I can tell that last pounce on him really hit him hard. I recognise that agony anywhere, he's broken a rib bone or two.

I didn't really want to do the next pounce but I had to. There was a sickening _crack_ as I landed on him, and he screamed with such intensity even the people outside of the booth cringed. I quickly got off him to relieve a small amount of the pain he had. Then when the doctors came in and tried to get him onto a stretcher as quickly as they could, I gave up waiting and picked him up, placed him up on my back and pounced to the ward as quickly as I could; doctors tagging along.

As I got there however, my leg failed me and I dropped to the floor yelping. The doctors managed to clamber in proceeding to pick the guard up off me with care to have a look at him, my brother following closely behind. They placed me on a bed also after hearing about my leg wound, and seeing the blood pool slowly soaking into my pant leg.

They got me changed into some more cleaner clothes, which I highly protested but I noticed my brother sneakily took my bow out of my hood. I really like that bow, I think he knows that considering he just put it into his pocket. He was asked to leave after a little while, so I gave him a goodbye hug.

The guard was still awake. He began to ask me some things, of course I couldn't answer them and he thought I couldn't understand him. He was asking me things about himself like 'how did I get here?' and 'why am I still alive?' despite my bad leg I crawled over to him, I noticed a small cut on his face I licked it out of impulse. Not be best idea considering I'm infected, but he smiled.

A few tears fell from his cheeks.  
So I licked them up too.


End file.
